When you need a last minute, "one pot" meal ... turn to the versatile white bean

I know that when we're getting towards the end of the week at my house, I'm usually scrambling to figure out what I can make that is easy and makes use of whatever food is still around.  As many of you will know from past posts, typically the end of the week means sausages or meatballs are the main protein.

Typically I lean towards tacos since tortillas never go bad, and it's pretty easy, but another easy thing is a "one pot" meal.  For this meal to the right, I tossed whole, uncased, sausages into a 3qt pot with a can of white beans (including the liquid), about 1/2 can of water, diced onion and some chopped basil.  I left the pot slightly un-covered and cooked over medium-low heat until the liquid had reduced to a "gravy" consistency.  I removed the sausages and sliced them in half and then served them over rice and then topped with the beans.  Simple, easy and filling.

For this second dish I used a drained can of white beans and a cup of beef stock in addition to some pre-made meatballs.  I added some diced onion and sliced garlic and then seasoned with salt and pepper.  I again cooked the bean concoction slightly un-covered over medium low heat until the beans had absorbed most of the liquid.  I served this dish with asparagus and some avocado puree.

I highly recommend giving one of these dishes a try, or create one of your own ... either way, enjoy!

It's winter, that means soup!

Soup is one of my favorite things to make on a nice cold day.  The longer you let it sit and simmer, the better all the tastes come together and the better it will make your whole house smell.  Soup is also great because you can really make it to be anything you want by adding whatever catches your fancy.

My favorite winter time soup starts with a bean base.  I just grab whatever 12, 14, 15 (or whatever number the packaging calls out) bean soup mix I can find to start the soup.  When I cook this, I use my 12 qt stock pot, but you could easily use something smaller if you choose to.

Hearty Bean Soup w/ Sausage, Shrimp and Kale
1 pkg 15 bean soup mix (discard flavor package)
1 - 1.5 lbs sausage (cut into chunks)
3/4 lb 30-40 ct shrimp (shells removed)
1 bunch kale (roughly chopped to about 2 inch pieces)
1 box (26oz) Pomi chopped tomatoes
2 pkgs Goya Sazon
1 tsp salt
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste
Crusty bread and shredded parm for garnish

Before beginning you'll want to put the bean mix into a strainer and check carefully for any stones that may have made it into the packaging with the beans, and then rinse the beans.  To start I put the beans into my stock pot and then fill the pot about 1/4 full with water.  Some people like to soak the beans overnight to get them tender ... I find that this means you can't let them cook as long then and so you can't build up all of the flavor.  I add the tsp of salt and then bring the beans and water to a boil for about 5 minutes (stirring frequently) before turning down to a low simmer.

While waiting for the beans to return to a simmer, you have another choice to make in regards to the shrimp and sausage.  You can put both directly into the pot (uncooked) and they will cook throughout the process, but I find that this can sometimes make them feel a little water logged.  I like to cook both the shrimp and the sausage in a saute pan first, getting a bit of a crust on the outsides and keeping them from absorbing as much water.

Once the beans are simmering, add the pomi tomatoes, kale, shrimp, sausage and the seasonings.  Stir everything well.  Now this is the most important part ... partially cover the pot so that some liquid can evaporate, ensure the temperature is low enough that it will lightly simmer but not boil or burn, and WALK AWAY!

Feel free to check back every hour or so to make sure you're not losing too much liquid and give it a little stir.  This is also when you may want to take a little sample to make sure the sausage still tastes ok :-)  After about an hour of simmering the soup is technically ready to be served, but I like to let it simmer for at least 4-5 hours to make sure all of the tastes merge together perfectly.

When you are ready to serve, sprinkle a little bit of parm on top of the soup in a bowl, serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

Lately it's been corporate by day & night ...

The last few days have been pretty hectic getting ready for a workout next week, so while that has not prevented me from cooking, it has put a damper on my posting ability.  This is going to be a bit of a quick post, but I thought I'd catch up on the last couple of nights' dinners while I have a few minutes between meetings.

Tuesday night I decided to try something a little new, a buffalo flat iron steak.  I marinated it in Stubs Steakhouse Marinade overnight and then grilled it.

I served the steak sliced over black beans and rice and topped it with grilled red onion and sliced avocado.  I served a salad on the side.

Wednesday night we went back to an old favorite ... stuffed peppers.  Usually I don't break this dish out until the farmer's market opens and I can go get nice big local sweet & spicy peppers, but I decided to use some bell peppers to make this work instead.

For the stuffing I mixed in some of the leftover rice and beans from the night before with de-cased cilantro chicken sausages and some shredded cheese.  I topped & deseeded the peppers, stuffed with the mixture and then baked them on 425F for about 40 minutes, turning a few times to make sure that all sides blistered a bit.  With about 5 minutes to go I put some shredded cheese on top of each and let it melt.  I topped the peppers with avocado salsa & served with quesadillas and salad.

Quick avocado salsa

1 avocado (medium)

15 cherry tomatoes

1/2 lime

1/2 red onion (small)

1 hot pepper

I rough chopped all ingredients but the lime and added to a tupperware container, squeezing the lime juice over.  A good shake of the container mixed the ingredients and then I let sit in the fridge while I cooked dinner.  One more shake to ensure everything was mixed well and it was ready to go.